"Aoi, let go already! I already tapped out!"

Specifically, Yuka had tapped out about five seconds ago, but Aoi still had her locked in the armbar for a bit longer before finally letting go.

Yuka slowly sat up, putting her arm over her shoulder as she carefully moved it around. She met Aoi's seemingly innocent look with a piercing glare. I guess I went a little too far.

"Sadist." Yuka spat out.

"Odd, that's the second time I've been called that."

"Yeah, because it's probably true."

Aoi shrugged, helping Yuka onto her feet.

True to Aoi's words the two had their unofficial rematch, and Aoi had won via armbar submission. Granted, she held the position longer than she should had, but… well, revenge was a sweet thing to be savored. It was only a shame it wasn't official.

"So, other than brutalize me, what did you want to do today?" Yuka asked.

"Hmm…"

"Oh god, you actually planned on brutalizing me."

"Oh, hush you."

Outside of their rematch and training Aoi no idea what to do with Yuka. She had planned to clean up the dojo a little before afternoon classes, but that wasn't something she thought Yuka would be interested in. Let's see… I finished morning training, so today's chores are getting supplies for the dojo, studying for college, helping father run classes… None of those things sound fun. Okay, they were fun for Aoi, but she doubted that Yuka would care for them… actually, she probably would given her personality, but that just made it all the sadder.

"I'm not sure." Aoi let out a sigh. "I really am just a boring girl that only know martial arts…"

"Hey, hey!" Yuka immediately interjected, patting Aoi on the shoulder. "Don't make it sound like that's a bad thing. Being into martial arts isn't boring! We're youthful athletes! We train our bodies and souls to improve ourselves physically and mentally! We-"

"Yuka, we're boring." Aoi flat tone curbed Yuka's enthusiasm.

"I mean… we're not boring, we just have a main interest."

"Yuka, no guy is going to be into a girl that can punch things really hard or throw people twice their size."

"Y-You don't know that!"

"Alright then Yuka, how many boys after wanted to spend time with you since you took up karate?"

"Hah, I'll have you know tha-"

"Unless they asked you out members of your karate club and tournaments don't count."

"Dammit!" Yuka crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine, whatever. So we're a bit boring, what's wrong if that?"

"Well ladies, your lives are going to get a lot more exciting!"

Aoi and Yuka jumped back upon hearing Smith's chipper voice. Aoi's manager had seemingly came out of nowhere, walking to the girls with a swagger in her step and her ever-present salesman smile on her face. "Glad to see you girls are getting your exercise this morning. It takes me so much effort to just do my morning walks, seeing you girls work is just inspiring, y'know?"

The two girls looked at each other, then at Smith. "Miss Smith, what exactly are you doing here?"

"I'm glad you asked my little warrior! I've got a few more papers and documents for you to sign before the tournament." Smith pulled out a handful of papers from her briefcase. Both Aoi and Yuka looked at each other, then at the papers.

"Sure…" Aoi grabbed a pen from Smith's hand and began to sign. It was all stuff she was used to seeing by now. Permission forms, brand deals for certain sponsors and products during the tournament, liability waivers, nothing new. "While you're here Miss Smith, I had some more questions about the tournament."

"Ah, me too." Yuka rose her hand.

Once Aoi had finished signing all the papers Smith placed them back in her briefcase. "Sure, sure. Ask away you two!"

Yuka went up first. "Um, how do you sign up for the tournament?"

"A few ways. Like Miss Umenokoji you could be invited by J6. Everyone from the previous World Fighting Tournament has been sent an invitation, so all they need to do is confirm their interest by calling or mailing us back." Smith took a seat on the floor, Aoi and Yuka followed suit.

"So Akira and all the other competitors will be there too…"

Smith nodded. "Yup, and really looking forward to seeing Mr. Yuki show up." Smith had said that with a noticeably longing tone. Aoi instantly narrowed her eyes at her.

"Wait, Akira Yuki?" Yuka's eyes lit up. "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod! He's, like, one of the big stars of the martial arts world!" Yuka turned to Aoi. "Wait, Aoi do you know him?"

"He's an old friend of mine, we sparred a lot when we were kids an-" Yuka latched onto Aoi's hands.

"Why didn't you tell me?!"

"Wha- I mean… it's not like I knew Akira was a big star or anything, he's just Akira to m-"

"Aoi, you have to let me meet him sometime. I have to ask him about his training, his diet, his dojo, hi-"

"So! How else can one get into the tournament Miss Smith." If she had to hear another word about Akira she was going to lose it.

"Ah, right." Smith cleared her throat continuing her explanation. "Other ways to join the tournament is to have the head of a gym or dojo sign someone up as a representative."

"So, if I wanted to join the tournament I'd have to get my Sensei to sign a form?"

"That's right Miss Takeuichi. I could give you that form if you want."

Yuka nodded. "Yes please."

"Alrighty, here you are." Smith pulled out a few sheets of paper and handed them to Aoi. "Have your Sensei sign the first form, and you just sign the rest where your signature is need. Liability waivers and all that fun stuff."

"Alright, thank you ma'am." Yuka nodded, smiling bright.

"Hey, can I get a form too?"

The three turned to the dojo entrance, seeing Kuro standing in uniform.

"Oh, hello Kuro."

"Hey sis," Kuro walked over to Smith. "If Aoi is already invited by you guys, does that mean I can't join as a representative of the family dojo?"

"Not at all Miss Kuro. If you wish to sign up that way then you are more than welcomed to. I know we have a few cases like this already, so it's not issue." Smith handed Kuro another copy of papers.

"Are you sure you want to participate Kuro? You could get hurt in the tournament."

Kuro shot an annoyed look at Aoi. "Most martial arts tournaments have a good chance of injuries happening, dear sister. I'll be fine." Kuro spat, flipping through the pages. "I'm surprised the one that nearly broke my arm a few months ago actually cares about my wellbeing."

Aoi frowned. That actually stung a little. "I…" Aoi bit her bottom lip before finishing the sentence. There wasn't much she could say against that. Anything cheeky really would have her come across as a sadist, and anything remorseful would make her a hypocrite. Ugh, being the eldest sibling in a family of martial artists really doesn't make things like this easy. She sighed, shaking her head. "Fine, I deserved that one. Feel free to challenge me again and return the favor. Just don't be surprised if I really do break your arm." Aoi made sure that last sentence had an edge of venom behind it. The dark look on Kuro's face proved it had the desired effect, and Aoi gave her sister an innocent smile with no warmth behind it. Fine, if I must play the villain for you defeat, then I'll play that role as best I can. "Feel free to spar with me any time little sister, I'll be glad to show you how far we can go in J6-sponsored events."

"Whoa…" Aoi didn't see her, but she could hear Yuka scooting back from Aoi. She glanced at Smith, seeing her smile suddenly become a lot more forced. And Kuro… well, she looked at Aoi like she was some monster that had to be slain. Well… it looks like I brought the mood down quite a bit…

"Demon…"

"Sadist…"

Oh, come on you guys!

"W-Well… I'm glad to see the Umenokoji family is eager and willing for a chance at good natured competitive…" Smith also backed away from Aoi. Aoi's smile faltered. One glance and she knew she had turned the mood of the room to a dark tone.

I think I played my role a little too well. Too late to go back on it now.

"A-Anyway…" Smith took another scoot back before continuing. "The last way of going through the tournament is to pass a series of preliminary tournaments coming up soon, or be a sponsored fighter as well."

"A prelim tournament?" Yuka repeated.

"Well it's really a sort of exhibition. It's less of a tournament and more of a screening test. Xiomara is supposed to be able to hold up to 50,000 people, and of those 50,000 about 15,000 are going to be competitors."

All three girls stared at Smith in disbelief. "15,000 competitors?" Aoi said.

Smith gave a grin and nodded. "That's right, 15,000 warriors in one city!" She shot up to her feet, exploding with dramatic passion. "Every last one them competing to see who's the best, fighting until their last breath! Tensions will be high, competition will be fierce, rivalries will explode as fists fly!" Smith took a breath and returned to her usually calm aura. "Something like that anyway."

Aoi honestly didn't know if Smith was telling the truth or just being theatrical.

"So yeah, the screening is really just a way for J6 representatives to pick some interesting personalities and fighters that the other methods can't."

"Huh…" The way Smith was putting it the tournament sounded more like a reality TV event than an actual tournament. Is this… really going to be alright? It wasn't like she had much of a say in the matter, but still.

"Anything else you'd like to know?"

"Yeah, how exactly are you going to organize the battles with that many competitors?" Kuro chimed in now.

"The battles will take place throughout the day in special rings around the city, we'll have camera's everywhere to get every bit of the action that goes on. At the end of the day we'll just take the best ones we get and stick them on pay-per-view and the J6 website."

"I see…" It made sense at least. "Could you explain all the systems and whatnot. Reading them on my own had my head spinning a little."

"Certainly." Smith then went on to explain the rest of the rules to the tournament. The first thing she went over was the point system. In short, 1000 competitors would be knocked out of the tournament every week based on a point system. Winning fights would either a fighter points, how many depended on how they won. Knockouts won the most points, while submissions earned less, and outright surrenders earned the least. A fighter would also lose points based on how they loss, but points wouldn't go lower than zero. At the end of each week those in the bottom 1000 would be sent home. If there was a tie or groups of people with the same amount for being sent away, then a loser bracket tournament would be set up over the weekend for those with the lowest amount of points.

The Shang Xiang Battle Series would take place over 15 weeks until a the last 1000 remained. The last group would then be placed a large-scale tournament for the final week with ten brackets with 100 competitors in each until the final ten would fight in one final tournament-style battle.

To keep track of points and fighters, everyone participating would be wearing a special wristband that would track each person's location and points. The wristbands would also act as mini PDAs, letting fighters know of nearby battles, tracking their points, showing their ranks, and so on.

The city itself would have several rings and places to fight throughout the day. All a fighter would have to do is step inside one of the ring areas, confirm their acceptance to battle via their wristbands, and the fight would begin. Only fights done in this matter would count toward adding and losing points. Fights would be in a no-hold-barred style. The only ways to be disqualified would be to not participate in a fight at all for the entire week. Other than that, no real rules. Weapons would be allowed so long as they were wooden, dulled, or tested to be initially non-lethal. The only illegal moves would be eye gouging, placing fingers in an opponent's orifices, and biting. Anything else would be legal.

As for daily life in the city, it would be like the real world. All fighters would have a part-time job in the city as a way to break up the fighting, but participants could still challenge other fighters throughout the day and fight in the rings before going back to their task beforehand. Starting fights outside the rings wouldn't be illegal, but it wouldn't give anyone points, so it wasn't encouraged.

And then there was the audience, both those in the city and those watching via online. Once all the major fights were recorded and posted online people could go online and talk about their favorite fighter in the J6 forums. Audience members could give points to fighters based on appeal. These a form of bonus points for playing to the crowd, and a saving grace for those lagging.

Lastly, there was the alliance system. It wasn't so much an alliance of anything kind, but just the ability to trade points to friends and allies. All one would have to do is grant permission via the wristbands, confirm the amount, and the trade would be done instantly. This feature would be allowed until the fifth week of the tournament. After that, everyone was on their own.

"Aaaand, I believe that's all the important bits you three should know. Does that answer all your questions ladies?"

Aoi and Yuka looked at each other, then back at Smith. "Yes, I think we understand all we need to." Aoi said.

"Good, good. Now then, I'm off to see your dad."

"He should be in his office."

"Alright then, in that case I'll see you later my little warrior!" And with that, Smith was off.

Yuka turned to Aoi. "Little warrior?"

"Don't ask. I don't understand it either."

Yuka smirked, but said nothing. "Anyway, what do you think about those rules and stuff?"

"It'… difficult to wrap my head around, but I understand all of it at least." Aoi sighed. "You?"

Yuka shrugged. "It's not too different from the VG tournament, so I'm good."

"That makes one of us."

"Well, what do you want to do now?"

"I'm not sure… we could have another round if you wanted?"

"Yeah, I don't really want you trying to break my arm again, Miss Sadist."

"Hmph,"

"I'm good too, I still don't want to explain to the kids why my sister broke my leg in her bloodlust."

"I swear, one day..." Aoi pinch the bridge of her nose, standing up. "Fine, how about we all go shopping. I wanted to get a new kimono and uniform for the tournament anyway."

"Oh, that sounds like fun!" Yuka sprang up.

"Mind if I come too? I wanted to get something too."

"Sure," Aoi began to make her way to the locker rooms, Kuro and Yuka behind her.

"You should get something with 'demon' written on it, sis." Kuro said, poking her in the side with her elbow.

"Or maybe get an Oni mask." Yuka added, poking at Aoi's other side.

"Okay... now I'm mad." Aoi grabbed Kuro by the arm, forcing her to her knees and slamming a knee into her spine. She went down instantly. Yuka stared in shock and horror, stunned for a moment. The moment her and Aoi's eyes met she was brought back to reality and tried rushing her. Bad move. Aoi sidestepped out of the way, grabbing Yuka by the legs from behind and pulling her down. She then slammed her heel at the back of Yuka's head. Both girls were on the ground, groaning in pain. Aoi simply let out an exhale and returned to a relaxed stance. "Phew..."

…

…

…

"Deeemoooon…"

"Saaaaadiiiist…"

Aoi's face went red. Even when barely conscious… "Y-You two provoked me!"

"My, what's this?"

Aoi turned to the entrance of the dojo to see Smith with her father. The disappointed look on her father's face did more damage than a punch ever could.

"My eldest child…" No.

"So… The Reversal Princess, the Sadistic Demon of Kyoko. Has a nice ring to it, huh?" Oh no. "I didn't think it, but you've got the makings for quite the villainess Miss Umenokoji." Oh gods no. No. No. No.

"Why me…?"